Don't Be So Insecure
by Lydiacatfish
Summary: "You, afraid of danger, Irene Adler? Don't be boring." A series of 221b drabbles set post-Reichenbach.
1. Chapter 1

"Oh, _do _get up, you're embarrassing yourself, you know," said an impatient voice somewhere above his head. He pulled his head up and stared into the person's eyes, and jolted when he saw they were Hers. "Don't act so surprised, Sherlock. You should have seen this coming."

"Of course I saw this coming," he retorted. "Simply not this exact scenario. I'm not completely omniscient."

She smiled. "That huge wound on your pride is too big too hide, Sherlock. Now get up, like I said, you're embarrassing yourself."

He shifted himself around and stumbled off of the pavement in the alleyway. "You'd know all about embarrassing yourself, wouldn't you, walking around your house naked to greet your guests," he muttered.

She sniffed. "I am far too comfortable with myself to ever feel embarrassed. You, however, are far too insecure."

He snorted. "Insecure? Me?"

"Insecure enough to stay in hiding for a year after you went into hiding. If you were really confident with your plan, you would have revealed yourself to your friends days after the fact. And yet, you still haven't after all this time." She turned around primly. "Anyway, I'm going to head off. It's dangerous for a lady like myself to be speaking with homeless riffraff like you."

He frowned. "You, afraid of danger, Irene Adler? Don't be boring."

* * *

**AN: Thought I'd try writing a 221b fanfiction. And it worked! Sort of. I hate word limits.**

**If you squint real hard you can see IrenexSherlock. Don't yell at me, Johnlock fans. **


	2. Chapter 2

She turned back around and smiled coyly at him. "I'm not the one who's afraid of me getting in danger, Sherlock. It's—"

"Your husband. Obviously." He rolled his eyes at Her. "Oh, a lawyer? How dull. Let me guess, private attorney, makes his money covering up the crimes of those wealthy enough to afford someone like him? Well, at least he wouldn't be completely useless to you, then," he drawled.

"No, he certainly isn't," She replied without missing a beat. "In fact, he helped me back into the country, in exchange for a bit of information I had on me that helped keep his client out of prison." She smiled dreamily. "He was so very dominant about everything, I couldn't help falling for him that instant. We've been together for—"

"Two months, three days, but you dated for seven before you got married." Sherlock rolled his eyes again. "Stop being boring, Irene. For god's sake, you sound like a schoolgirl when you talk about this man."

"That's all part of my new character." She giggled on purpose. "Don't tell me you're jealous."

"Of a man who is practically a criminal?"

"He is married to _me."_

"You obviously just needed someone with enough money to be comfortable but low enough to not draw attention to yourself."

She grinned. "Sherlock, bravo."

* * *

**AN: I didn't even have to edit this one to fit the word limit! I just typed it and it was 221 words!**

**A Christmas miracle. Except this is April.**

**I was upset Irene's husband wasn't in her episode. It made me sad. He was kinda important, though he had no lines or anything.**

**Also, the She in the third paragraph after Irene speaks is capitalized intentionally. It's not a typo, though it looks like one. I'll be capitalizing the pronouns that refer to Irene because she is the Woman. I know it's silly. Shut up.**


	3. Chapter 3

"I'm sure you've figured out why I'm here," She said breezily.

"I have six ideas so far. Four as to how you found me. John hasn't been able to so far, so you probably tried something a bit less than legal or moral," Sherlock replied slowly, as though thinking while he talked.

"You trust your homeless friends a bit too much," She replied simply. "Pay them enough and they'll kiss your feet and call you Mum."

"And we all know how much you love that," he snorted.

"Hush. That was then, this is now. Anyway, I just picked up leads from all over the city and they led me right to you." She smiled. "Nothing special, like I know you were hoping for."

He sighed. "Dull. And you didn't have to tell me. I really wish you hadn't, actually."

"Well, you still haven't figured out why I'm here," She reminded him, "so you've still got that little problem to toy around with."

He frowned. "There could be any number or reasons as to why you've chosen to find me, this problem is—"

"I have to leave now," She announced suddenly, "because my Godfrey will be looking for me." She nodded to him before turning around and walking away. She waved to him without looking while she walked. "Ta, Mr. 'Boring'."

* * *

**AN: I hate making them OOC… I feel like they're OOC. Are they OOC? Don't answer that, I know they are. Actually, do answer, I want your opinions.**

**I wrote this one on my phone! Over the course of a few days. And now I really need to finish writing my essay since it's due tomorrow and I'm on the second paragraph. Yaaaaay.**


	4. Chapter 4

There was a very erotic sigh from the drawer of John Watson's bedside table at approximately 5:30 the next morning. He and his girlfriend were sleeping at the time, but the noise woke them both up.

"What was that?" mumbled John's girlfriend, Mary Morstan. "John, did you hear that noise?" she asked, slowly sitting up in their shared bed. They had been dating for about eight months, and he had moved in with her just five weeks previous.

"What noise?" replied John sleepily.

The sigh came again. "That noise," muttered Mary. "That dirty one. John, is that coming from your side of the bed?" She nudged him. "Check."

"Hold on." John rolled over so he could access the drawer. He pulled out the old Blackberry that had been given to him with Sherlock's things after the fall. The phone, along with other random personal possessions, had been willed to him. There were two new text messages. "Who the hell…?" He clicked to open the messages but a message popped up telling him to enter his password. "Oh, for the love of…"

Mary dropped back down onto the bed like a stone. "Oh, go figure it out in the bathroom or something. I'm going back to sleep."

John pulled the covers off of himself and, phone in hand, staggered to the bathroom.

* * *

**AN: This one was originally almost a hundred words too short. I added some stuff in. I hope it wasn't too inorganic.**

**This is officially a series now, with some strange semblance of a plot. I wonder who those texts are from! Just kidding. We all know who they're from.**

**Also, thank you to floratang for your thoughts on the OOC level of Sherlock and Irene. And thank you to SherlockedUntilDeath and faeryenchanter for your reviews to earlier chapters as well. **


	5. Chapter 5

John blinked when the light to the bathroom went on, then glanced back at the phone. It was still demanding a password. John tried to remember what it was. "Er…" He never would have figured it out himself, but there was a note with Sherlock's things that had the password written on it. But what _was _it?

He thought for a minute, trying to shake his head from sleep. Sleep…oh. He remembered and punched it in. He was brought to a screen with the two new messages listed.

"Two messages from…Irene Adler? But that doesn't make sense, Mycroft told me she was executed." He opened the first one.

_Meet me outside the courthouse, __10 a.m.__ sharp. -IA_

John's face scrunched up. Why would "Irene Adler" be texting Sherlock's phone to meet outside the courthouse? And what courthouse was it supposed to be, anyway?

The second text said, _Sorry, the courthouse where JM was tried. And don't bring Miss Morstan. -IA_

So whoever it was knew John had Sherlock's old phone. But who was it? It couldn't have been Irene Adler, because she was dead. Wasn't she?

Still, there was the nagging suspicion that she might not be. After all, she had faked her death once, she could do it again.

John decided to sleep on it and went back to bed.

* * *

**AN: What is this, two posts in one night? I never do that. Ever. The closest I've ever gone was once every day for a week, for you Day in the Life readers from all that long time ago.**

**Anywho, I couldn't remember how Irene ended her text messages. I feel like she put something at the end, like a signature, but I don't remember what. Who wants to help? The wiki doesn't have anything on this.**


	6. Chapter 6

When John woke up a few hours later and remembered the messages from "Irene Adler" he decided to see who they were and what they wanted, without mentioning anything to Mary. He didn't want to worry her with something that could be potentially dangerous, after all. This proved difficult, however, because she asked him about the messages right when he went to the kitchen twenty minutes later.

"So, what was all that this morning?" she asked when he walked into the kitchen.

"What was all what?"

"You know, those weird messages that woke us both up," she said, handing him a plate of scrambled eggs.

"Oh, that. That was nothing," he replied in a way he hoped was nonchalant. He sat down at the small table and dug into his food.

She sat down across from him and frowned. "It didn't seem like nothing. Was it some old client or someone texting Sherlock's phone? Don't tell me it wasn't, I heard you open the drawer," she added when he made a face. "I know that's where you keep his old phone. And you know can tell me anything, John." She smiled reassuringly.

"It was really nothing. Don't worry about it," he replied smoothly, though he wanted so desperately for her to just drop the whole thing that it felt like begging.

* * *

**AN: Sorry I didn't update at all this weekend. There was a storm. And my power was out from Saturday night to this morning. "Why didn't you update on Saturday morning or Saturday afternoon?" Well, I was sleeping. That's what I do on the weekend.**

**I have a fantastic social life, for your information. I mean, there's all the reviews you guys give me, that's like a third of it. And then there's the reviews on my other stories, and that's another 65/66 of it or something. Then there's Words with Friends (which, funnily enough, is not called Words with Friends in Japanese, it's called Word Battle).**

**Thank you SnowGirl098 for helping me last chapter! This one's dedicated to you, I guess. Yay :D.**


	7. Chapter 7

At 9:50, John Watson arrived outside the courthouse, having told Mary he wanted to get milk. He hoped the meeting wouldn't take long so he could get on with that and not seem too suspicious. She hadn't said anything else about the strange messages after he'd asked her to drop it, but he knew she was still concerned. He felt bad for lying to her, but he knew the situation could be dangerous and he didn't want to drag her into something bad like he had with Sarah.

The phone in his left pocket rang. Sherlock's phone. He'd brought it along with him in case anything happened, and apparently, it had. He pulled it out of his pocket and answered. "Hello?"

"_You're early. That's good," _said the person on the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry, who are you? Why did you ask me to come here?"

"_I thought I signed my texts. I'm Irene Adler, silly John. And I have something you want."_

"That's impossible. Irene Adler is dead, she was—"

"_Executed by a terrorist cell in Karachi?" _The person on the other end giggled. _"Almost. But I was saved by the same person you've been mourning for so long."_

"Sherlock," breathed John. "He saved you?"

She laughed again. _"Me dying was apparently just something he couldn't bear!"_

* * *

**AN: This one was harder, because I had too many words again. And I had to rephrase the last sentence weird to fit with the 221b theme. Still, it seemed like it turned out okay. Also, does anyone remember if there was a name used on the courthouse where Moriarty was tried for his crimes?**

**Thank you for reading! Sorry I didn't post for so long! I'll try to write more this weekend. Promise.**


	8. Chapter 8

"So Sherlock saved your life and didn't tell me?" John asked.

"_Yes. Don't you hate it when people pretend to be dead and not tell you about it? I saw someone like that just the other day that you would have loved to hear about," _Irene replied. _"So that you would have known they were still around, anyway."_

"Do you mean…" John's breath caught in his throat. Sherlock couldn't be alive. John himself had seen him die. All the blood, and the people trying to pull him away, and the pain in his shoulder…

"_Not who I'm referring to, actually." _John snapped back into the present. _"I'm thinking of someone a bit more sinister than your beloved former flatmate." _Irene's voice became very serious at that point.

"Who? Who are you talking about?" asked John quickly.

"_I was at a party a few weeks ago with my new husband, and I saw someone I knew. Someone you and Sherlock knew all too well."_

"Who? Who was it?" demanded John. Why wouldn't she give a straight answer?

"_He told me he'd shot himself in the head and lived. It's possible, I looked it up. Depending on the angle and the amount of brain you hit. He was practically fine."_

"Who was it, Irene? Tell me."

"…_Moriarty."_

John forgot how to breathe.

* * *

**AN: Yes, before you yell at me, it is possible to shoot yourself in the head and suffer little to no damage afterwards. I looked it up. I'd read something about it before, and I was just making sure, but yes, it's perfectly possible Moriarty survived. He probably got someone to pick him up after Sherlock offed himself who was waiting out of sight or something. At least in this story.**

**God, if he comes back in the real show I'm going to freak out, Moriarty scares the crap outta me…he's just so creepy. **


	9. Chapter 9

"_He's the reason I sought you out. You're no Sherlock Holmes, but you can at least…help."_

"Help with what?" he asked, remembering how to breathe again.

"_Denouncing him as a fake, of course," _Irene replied impatiently. _"After what he did, don't you want to make him feel the same pain?"_

John swallowed. It was true, he did want to get revenge, and yet… "I'm sorry, Miss Adler, I can't."

"_You can't?" _Irene asked disbelievingly. _"What happened the John Watson I once knew? The one Sherlock knew? The one who wouldn't relished in danger?"_

"I am protecting my friends. Sherlock is dead, and I want to bring him back as much as the next person, but I have living friends now, and a living girlfriend who I don't want hurt. If I help you with whatever it is you want me to do I don't know if she'll be safe."

There was no reply for a few seconds. _"Fine then. Stay safe at home, away from all of this with your safe girlfriend. You should just know that if you do, you will never know what happens, and you will never feel the happiness and the adrenaline of helping us take down Moriarty."_

"Us?"

Just before hanging up, Irene said, _"If you change your mind, just remember to ask for Richard Brook."_

* * *

**AN: This ended up at almost 300 words before I trimmed it down. Uuugh. There was good stuff in there, too, but I had to take it out. Oh well.**

**I also didn't know how to end this one. There was going to be a part where Irene told him that Reichenbach=Richard Brook but I couldn't fit it in. Ah wellll.**


	10. Chapter 10

Irene Adler promptly hung up. John stared at Sherlock's phone. Ask for Richard Brook? Why? Was it some kind of codename since it was Moriarty's alias not so long ago?

Whatever. He'd wasted enough time at the courthouse. It was his only day off that week and he really did want to spend it with Mary. He left the packed street in favor of an alleyway that would be a good shortcut to Tesco and then Mary's.

Halfway down the alley he tripped over an extremely long pair of legs and fell to the ground. He sat himself up and apologized to the owner of the legs, feeling slightly cross since they hadn't said anything. They had curled their legs up to hide their face, showing only black, curly hair. John glared at them for a moment then got back up and going.

He arrived back at Mary's about half an hour later with the milk in one hand and a bag of various other things in the other. "I'm home, Mary!" he shouted to the house.

She rushed to him from down a flight of stairs and before he could even close the door she wrapped her arms around him. Her face was wet with tears.

"Mary? What's wrong?" He carefully set down both the bags and patted her back.

* * *

**AN: That's the closest you'll get to a cliffhanger. Oh noes, why is Mary cryyyyying?**

**Was she playing Amnesia and Mr. Face kept killing her over and over just like he does Heartless? Nah.**

**Apparently Moriarty's alive-ness was not well-received. Eh.**

**Also, sorry I took so long to update, AP tests are next week and the week after and I should really be studying. I took pity on you with this crappy update. Don't ask for more, please.**

**Hope you enjoyed!**


	11. Chapter 11

"J-J-John," she sobbed quietly.

"What is it?" he asked again. He pulled her closer to him. "Did someone hurt you?" he demanded.

"N-No. No. I'm fine." She wiped her tears away. "Better than fine."

"Better?"

She smiled at him, then showed him her clenched hand. Sitting in it was a little plastic stick. John looked closer, and in a little window-like area in the middle was a proud, pink plus.

"I'm going to have a baby, John." More tears slipped out of her eyes. "I'm crying because I'm just so happy. We're going to have a child!"

"We're going to have a child," John repeated slowly. Well, this changed everything. Children changed everything. Sudden, a fierce sense of protectiveness for this unborn creature he'd created with Mary came over him. "A real human child, you and me, huh?"

He couldn't help bring a baby into a world like the one he lived in. The one Sherlock had died in. The one Moriarty apparently _didn't _die in.

"That's right. Oh, we have so much work to do!" Mary squealed, full of delight. John, however, was feeling quite the opposite.

If Moriarty was really still around, then he could hurt Mary, and he could hurt their baby. So he had to make sure Moriarty _wasn't _still around. For the sake of the baby.

* * *

**AN: Well he sure changed his mind fast.**

**This wasn't originally planned. Nothing was originally planned. I'm just going with the flow here. But, wow, I surprised myself there.**

**Sorry I took so long. AP tests, finals, summer laziness, it all caught up to me and I felt guilty about not updating this after I did my newest thing which has murder and detectives in it (but no Sherlock). **

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed. **


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